The Farmington side was left to wonder what might have been Tuesday evening at the end of its volleyball match with visiting Troy.

The Falcons had a 24-21 lead in the first game, but the Colts rallied to win, 26-24. Playing off the momentum generated by the comeback victory, Troy also won the next two, 25-9 and 25-17.

"Hannah Moeller went back and served four aces – just rockets – at them," Troy coach Vince Muscato said. "I think, if they pull off that game, it could be a different match. She served aggressively and that carried us into the next game."

"We came out firing on all cyclinders in the first game, and we just couldn't pass the ball at the very end," Farmington coach Katie Drews said.

The Falcons showed some renewed fight in the third game. They scored four in a row with a good offense to trim a 10-point deficit to 16-10.

Consecutive aces by senior Kat McAllister kept the Falcons within six, 19-13, and back-to-back kills by junior Rachel Hume and senior Taylor Suurmeyer made it a five-point game, 20-15.

Troy scored its next three points on two missed serves and a net violation. Clare Keating's kill and Kyla Zaleski's ace won the match for the Colts, who are 1-1 in the OAA Red Division and 14-8-1 overall.

"It doesn't matter how high of a level, whether it's eighth grade, high school or college volleyball, it's a serve and pass game, and that's what we really try to stress," Muscato said.

"We don't have a ton of big hitters, so that's our attack line – back there on the service line. We try to take their hitters out of it. We want to simplify the game for us, and I thought we pursued the ball well."

Muscato said the Colts keep track of out-of-system balls they get from the opposing side, and he added they received a lot of those Tuesday.

"I think we caught them on a good day," he said. "I've seen them play and they're very physical. Those two hitters on their team (Suurmeyer and senior Ally Folkert) are very good players.

"Our service game took them out of it. We were moving them around a little bit, and their ball control kind of fell apart a little bit. But they're a good team, and that was a good win for us."

Hannah Moeller had seven aces, 15 assists and 10 digs for the Colts. Emma Loken had eight kills and Keating four. Kirsten Losey contributed a dozen digs, and Amanda Glorio-Riley had two two aces among her 17 service points.

"Most teams in our league have some big attackers," Muscato said. "If we can neutralize one or two of them, it simplifies the game for us.

"Our little Troy team can defend. We're going to work our tails off and try to keep the ball alive, try to get them tired and making errors. That's our game."

Farmington was minus one of its top hitters. Junior Karlie Wengorovius didn't play because of a sprained ankle. She's expected to be back in the lineup soon.

"But Ally stepped up and did great and so did Taylor," Drews said. "Unfortunately, we just couldn't move the ball around enough to keep (the Colts) on their toes. We kinda showed our hand early and had to fly with it from there."

Suurmeyer had 14 kills and one solo block; Folkert had 10 kills. McAllister assisted on 23 kills; she and Folkert had nine digs apiece.

Drews made other lineup changes and introduced a new strategy in an attempt to find something that would work for the Falcons.

"If it doesn't work, you have to try something new and we did," Drews said. "I changed everything that we ever practiced. Considering what I threw at them, I thought they handled it pretty well.

"I put a couple of my bench kids in there, and they did what they were supposed to do. I think my depth is going to be a good thing going down the line."

The Troy match boiled down to the first game and the late change in fortunes for both teams.

"It's crazy how momentum does that," Drews said. "The first game is an indicator for the rest of the match.

"It takes something really deep to come back. After that second game, I thought the kids did a real nice job of still fighting in that third one."

The Falcons are 0-2 in the division and 1-4-1 overall, and it's still very early in the season.

"There's a lot of volleyball left to play," Drews said. "All I need is one kid to turn a corner, and I have a well-rounded team.

"I don't have to rely so much on the power from Taylor, Karlie and Ally. I just need one kid to figure out the next gear, and we should be good."